


A Long Way From Trust

by spooky_chet (Mungo_of_Maundery)



Series: The I'm Right And Chris Carter Is Wrong, So There! AU [2]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: Episode: s01e01 Pilot, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mutual Trust, Sort Of, Touch-Starved, and then she just got Naked in front of him having known him for like 12 hours honestly, poor boy doesnt know what to Do with himself
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 10:48:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mungo_of_Maundery/pseuds/spooky_chet
Summary: During their first case, Scully surprises Mulder by her trust.Can be read as standalone.





	A Long Way From Trust

**Author's Note:**

> This is part of what will be a long AU spanning the whole show. The AU will only diverge from canon at Paper Clip, though, so any fics (like this one) set during seasons 1 or 2 are canon compliant and can be read as standalones.

When he gets the knock on the door, Mulder is confused. It can only be Scully, really, but he’s still surprised when he opens the door and she’s stood there, pale and shaken, hair damp, wrapped in her dressing gown.

He hadn’t noticed until now how small she seemed. Her eyes are wide and her voice trembles as she tells him she wants him to look at something, and he’s so caught up in staring that it takes him two goes to shut the door behind her. Without preamble, she turns her back to him and slips the robe from her shoulders and reveals herself standing only in her underwear. Mulder nearly drops the candle he’s holding.

His first thought is that he mustn’t react. Something’s spooked her, obviously, and she’s making herself vulnerable before him. He tries not to let his eyes widen or his mouth fall open like a teenager seeing a girl for the first time, and inwardly schools his voice not to crack when he speaks. His second thought is that she’s putting a level of trust in him that he didn’t expect, especially not so soon. Mulder verbalises that to himself in his head, filing away the realisation to examine later.

She indicates some marks on her lower back – for a moment as he kneels to look, he feels a tingle of fear at the nape of his neck, but the marks are harmless. He brushes his fingers over them with as much pressure as he dares. A little inflamed maybe, but not the hard little marks they saw on Peggy O’Dell or any of the others.

“What are they?” Her voice is rising now. “Mulder, what are they?”

“Mosquito bites,” he says. She’s twisting to look at him now, seeking confirmation through eye contact. He grins.

“Are you sure?” The question lists up at the end in something like panic.

“Yeah, I got eaten up a lot myself out there.” The breath rushes out of her at his assurance. Then she buries herself against his chest with such suddenness that he takes a half-step backwards to compensate. Shock nearly makes him lose his grip on the candle again and he falters, unsure of what to do about this unexpected development. The feeling of being hugged – if this is hugging, when she’s so curled in on herself, her face hidden – is foreign and extraordinarily nice, despite the circumstances. Uncertain, he places his free hand on her shoulder and hopes it’s reassuring.

Mulder feels for her – she was so sure of herself only a few hours ago, determined not to take his crap for a second, staring him down so ferociously he’d been glad when she’d looked away. Now she’s uncertain, her worldview challenged by evidence that is just a little too convincing to be safe. It’s dark and they’re both a long way from home. Working on the x-files sometimes does this; he knows the feeling.

Agent Scully is shaking slightly as she steps back and with some awkwardness Mulder disentangles himself. She moves away and he’s watching, following, attentive. He doesn’t want to crowd, but when she sits, he sits also, and can’t take his eyes off her. She won’t look at him now, reddened with embarrassment and white with shock, all at the same time.

Maybe now she’s seen enough to understand, if he tells her. Nothing the FBI doesn’t already know. It’ll either scare her off or give him an ally and maybe for her vulnerability he owes her a confession, some token of his own faith, not in her, but in something. It’s an exchange. Besides, he can’t exactly throw her out. He gestures to the bed and Scully’s eyebrows raise a fraction, self-assurance and sarcasm returning with the seconds. Mulder only smiles and goes to sit by the bed, and after a moment, he feels the bed dip under his head as Scully lies down.

It’s a long way from trust, but it’s something.


End file.
